Donald Cemetery

Deep in the Rockies, we’re visiting a very special place and sharing with you a little of that adventure. It’s rather hidden away, but not far from a busy traffic corridor (sometimes faintly heard on the wind), and seemingly lost in time. Over there it’s a fast-paced world, and here, for the most part, peace and serenity rule. We’re looking at Donald Cemetery in BC’s Columbia-Shuswap region and connecting with those buried here. Some have a name, most are anonymous, but it matters not.

The cemetery dates back to the mid-1880s, with the founding of the town, all of which corresponds with the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway transcontinental line through the area. Donald thrived for a time, and the future looked bright, before quickly fading into obscurity. Here today, gone tomorrow and this a sobering reminder of how quickly it can end.

No one knows for sure how many folks are buried here but estimates go as high as a hundred or more (with about half confirmed) and most graves predate 1900.

Donald Cemetery – Randall David Lindsay and Gladys Mary.

Nature is reclaiming the property and over time the things seen here may completely vanish into the greenery. Only a few graves, of the total possible number, have markers and most of those are of stone. It’s likely many others had ones of wood and generally these would have long since rotted away. Still, a few of the latter remain, although most are weathered and unreadable.

Fencing, as seen in certain photos, was common in the old days and might be for decorative purposes, or reasons more practical, like protecting the grave from animals. Plastic flowers have been placed on some plots, but there’s been no maintenance here for who knows how long. For all intents and purposes, we can label it abandoned.

The first recorded burial here dates from 1885 and the most recent, 1938, but most occurred in the late 1880s to late 1890s period. Those were heady days in Donald’s history and the party was never going to end. Then, as it happens time and again, it crashed. The railway brought on a boom, but being short lived meant most of the population moved on by 1900.

Now, lets look at some names and details.

Siblings Randall David Lindsay and Gladys Mary Bell-Campbell occupy one plot. Born in 1889 and 1890, respectively, neither made it beyond four months. Baby deaths were quite common in the old days and in the paragraphs to follow you’ll see a repeating pattern.

Baby Fraser perished in 1895 and no birth date nor first name appears to be listed. That any of the inscription on this wood remains legible after all these years is quite amazing. Here in the Rocky Mountain Trench, the weather’s extreme (winter especially) and anything outdoors will take a severe beating. With that in mind, it’s likely this is not an original headstone, but still it must be quite old.

Robert McNab Lawson passed on in 1896, aged three months, and one can only imagine the parent’s heartbreak on having this happen. Pioneer life was no picnic and even the resilient often paid a steep price. You died, or someone you loved died, and everyone took it on the chin, accepted it, then moved on. Still, the scars must run deep and perhaps into the very soul.

“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord”: reads a passage on George Brundrett’s grave. Dying in 1897, at age 36, it was not a long life, but better than most of those we’ve looked at here in Donald Cemetery. With the town in serious decline at this point (on loosing CPR divisional status), he became one of the last burials here.

Here we’re looking at Oliver Forrest’s broken grave maker and sadly he’s yet another youngster that passed on far too early. Buried in 1889, at just over a year old, the following inscription can be read:

“Then the door of heaven opened,
that had been ajar all day.
And our darling alone could answer,
what will Jesus say.
On the grave we scatter flowers,
but our glorious boy hath gone.
Where no shadow of death shall darken,
the flowers around the throne.”
(The lettering was badly worn, but what we transcribed seems to match up with the words listed on FindAGrave, so we think we got it right).

Lastly, there’s a memorial to Hellen Harte, who went to the great beyond in 1892 at age 39 years. It’s a beautiful grave stone and the work put into it suggests, to us at least, a deep love between Hellen and her husband John.

We hope to return here, for a slower paced and more detailed look down the road. A tight schedule meant this visit had to be a quick one and as many of our regular readers know, rushing like this is something we loath. There’s a map, sort of hidden at the back of the property (access used to be from that direction) that could help us connect the dots in a more thorough way, should that happen.

The railway passes not far from the property and makes its presence known often. Where as Donald is pretty much a ghost town (check out that empty field once home to a huge sawmill) the CPR is as busy as ever, and while the railway essentially gave birth to the community (or what was the community), there seems to be no connection anymore.

This one’s weathered and unreadable.

We take one last look around and you know, in our minds, it doesn’t seem like such a bad place to be laid to rest. The mountains of BC are grand and majestic, even in the afterlife. The ground shakes with the arrival of a freight, but soon it’s gone and minutes later we follow suit. Silence as it was before, returns to Donald Cemetery, for a time at least and perhaps fifteen minutes hence, it’ll be that familiar rumble again. One after the other, for the last hundred and thirty some years, those steel-wheeled convoys come and just as quick vanish.

We’ve just gotten started and keep your eyes open for new content posted regularly!

They’re saying…

”Their photography is wonderful and I love to read the background stories to the images” Peg Strankman.

More like this…
The Little Cemetery Moyie BC – Peaceful.
Badlands Cemetery – Long forgotten.
Sam McGee was not from Tennessee – The real Sam McGee from the poem.

If you wish more information on what’s seen here, don’t hesitate to: contact us!

Date of Adventure: July, 2021.
Location(s): Donald, BC.
Article references: FindAGrave.com and George Love.
If you visit Donald Cemetery, please be respectful.

Baby Fraser.

Nature’s taking over.

Robert McNab Lawson, another infant.

George Brundrett.

In the old days, they often fenced in graves.

Oliver Forrest, barely a year old.

Hellen Harte, beloved wife.